Business.govt.nz

Will I get in trouble over an H&S incident?

Managing health and safety (H&S) at work is about eliminating or minimising risks to workers. You should be looking at it in that order – eliminating first, then minimising.

It’s important to focus on managing risks, rather than going overboard worrying about whether an H&S incident will happen.

If you manage the risk – as far as ‘reasonably practicable’ – then you probably won’t get in trouble even if there is an H&S incident. With changes to health and safety at work coming in next year, we’ve explained what reasonably practicable means for different industries on Business.govt.nz.

So, that means:

If you’re aware of a risk, but do nothing about it, then you could face a penalty – whether or not someone is hurt as a result of that risk.

If you’re aware of a risk, and manage that risk so far as reasonably practicable and someone is still hurt or harmed, then you won’t face a penalty.

The fact that there’s been an H&S incident doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve breached your H&S duties. What is important is that you’ve done what anyone in your position and situation would sensibly be expected to do.

A key part of the upcoming H&S law changes is improving businesses’ engagement with their workers on H&S and boosting their workers’ participation in H&S.

This means creating a strong H&S culture at work where people seek each other’s input into H&S issues, as well as engaging with your workers when deciding what to do about identified risks.